Ulfric paced. His coat was covered in blood but that meant little to him right now, he kept glancing at the door each time he passed it, knowing that everything was being done to save Astaria's life.

He felt sick, terror had frozen him in place when the dragon had clamped its jaws down on her and it felt like he hadn't been properly working since. Her blood had soaked the snow, her armour had been no match for the dragons teeth, deep lacerations ran down her chest and arm and a very deep one on her neck.

He didn't know how she had kept going.

Ulfric had found himself by her side before he knew it and scooped her up into his arms. Time had been of the essence and no one blocked his way as he came back into the city soldiers running ahead to get Wuunferth and find any other healers in the city.

Now, she was in that room righting for her life.

Ulfric hadn't been the only one seriously affected by her wounds, Galmar was seated weakly on a chair in the corridor, barely aware of his friends pacing, his face very pale. He had followed Ulfric, had ordered men to run ahead to get healers, but the colour had drained from his face when he saw how much blood the small Nord was losing.

They didn't know how long they'd been out in the corridor, but both were fearing the worse.

Galmar slowly cleared his throat. "Ulfric?"

Ulfric doesn't respond.

"Ulfric." His voice was sterner, clearer, and Ulfric looked at him. "You…you should change your coat."

Ulfric looked down at himself, her blood had quickly soaked through his coat and it now appeared to be more red than blue.

"Later." He grunted and continued pacing. He was not going anywhere until he knew what condition she was in.

Galmar let out a slow breath. "She'll be alright, she's the Dragonborn."

"I know."

"Then why are you worried?"

"Why are you?"

The two men looked at each other, silent understanding passing between them. Ulfric sighs and sinks into the chair next to him, still staring at the door.

"The girl still needs to learn how to use a sword properly." Galmar said gruffly.

Ulfric says nothing.

Finally, the door opens, Wuunferth stepping out, his robes covered in blood. He looked up at the two men with worried eyes, both who had jumped to their feet when the door had opened.

Wuunferth clears his throat. "She is…stable, for the moment. She has lost a lot of blood though, I would recommend seeing if the college can spare anyone, she is going to need all the help she can get, especially if she wants the use of that arm again." He looks between them and licks his lips nervously. "That all depends on whether she wakes up first."

Ulfric stares at his court wizard. "What?"

"With the amount of blood she has lost Ulfric…I cannot guarantee she will wake up." Wuunferth looks away from Ulfric's furious gaze. "I am sorry. I did all I could. They are finishing bandaging her wounds now."

When nothing is said, Wuunferth mumbles about cleaning up and disappears down the corridor. Ulfric could feel fear in his chest, he didn't want to understand it, but he knew he did. Galmar grabbed his shoulder gently.

"I'll send a courier to Winterhold right away." Ulfric just nods and Galmar follows after Wuunferth, leaving Ulfric alone.

Ulfric rests a hand on the door, saying a silent prayer, before finally moving away, turning to his bedroom and slamming the door closed.

Fog. That was all she could see, occasionally making shapes out in the darkness. It felt as if it were suffocating her, slowly eating her away as she lost her mind, her memories, her physical shape.

A dark shadow flew overhead.

She could feel a panicked scream rising in her throat. Something landed behind her and she turned, glowing red eyes forming in the fog. She tried to run but her legs wouldn't move, all she could do was stare as the eyes approached.

"Dinok los voknau hi." A voice roars, a mouth lunges towards her, all teeth and red.

Astaria screams, bolting up right in the bed, a heavy layer of sweat covering her. The scream gets strangled as fire seems to erupt through her body, protesting the quick movement and she buckles in on herself, trying to control it, trying to force it away.

She couldn't focus, the pain clouding her mind as she shook, violently, unable to remember what had happened.

There was a noise somewhere to her right, but she couldn't move, movement would bring the pain back and she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Astaria?"

All she could was whimper at the voice, her right arm wrapped tightly to her, her head resting on her knees as the pain refused to stop, her left arm wrapped around her legs to try and stop herself moving.

A gentle hand rested on her head, and somehow, it seemed to sooth the pain a little. She whimpered again as she could feel her body shaking, clutching tightly at the sheets around her legs.

"Here."

The voice was right next to her, the hand still resting on her head, as something cool was pushed into her left hand. It took a bit of persuasion but she eventually opened her hand to grab it.

"Drink it."

She didn't want to move and she tried shaking her head.

"It'll ease the pain."

Astaria bit her lip, torn between easing the pain and just not moving. Slowly, she lifts her head, the hand was holding hers to help her lift the vial to her lips and tip the cool liquid down her throat.

The effect was almost instantaneous, her body relaxing as the pain eased away, not completely, but enough that the cloud lifted and she could breathe easily, her head resting back down on her knees. It took her a long moment, drawing in deep breaths, before she opened her eyes, they were blurred by tears which she blinked away, feeling them running down her cheek.

Ulfric was sitting next to her, watching her closely, concern in his eyes.

She blinks at him. "Ulfric?" Her voice was weak and she inwardly winced.

He frowns, his expression unreadable. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible." She groans and slowly sits up, his hand leaving her head. Looking down at herself, she saw how heavily she wrapped in bandages and she winced, her muscles still protesting movement. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

Astaria thought, she remembered the dragon, fighting it in the snow. It had breathed fire at her but she'd survived that, then she remembered seeing Ulfric approaching.

Her heart dropped and she swallowed hard. "I guess I was lucky not to be eaten."

"You were lucky you weren't ripped limb from limb." Ulfric growls, he still hadn't gotten over his anger at her, but that would have to wait. "Healers will be here tomorrow, hopefully they can fix you up properly."

"How long-"

"Four days. The healers would have been here sooner, but they were away on another trip."

She could hear the annoyance in his voice, as if it wasn't good enough that the healers couldn't come straight away. She'd also caught the anger in the tone before and had no doubt that that would get discussed later.

"You are lucky to be alive Astaria, I was- we were worried you weren't going to wake up." He watched her closely, annoyed with himself now. He was tired, having barely slept because of worry, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"I did get torn up pretty bad." Her left hand then self-consciously went to her face but she found no injuries to her face, of which, she had to admit, she was relieved. Then she found the bandage around her throat and that a familiar cord was missing.

She turned to look for it, quicker than what she should have as an unfamiliar panic bit into her, and instantly regretted it, biting her tongue hard to stop the wave of pain going through her.

Ulfric grabbed her as she swayed, careful of her bandaged arm, and held her until she steadied.

"You need to be careful." He said softly. "You've been seriously hurt. You just need to ask if you-" he stops, her amber eyes staring at him.

"I...I just...that necklace means a lot to me." Her voice was quiet. "I'm not used to not having it there."

Ulfric hesitates and put his hand in his pocket, pulling out her necklace, it had been broken in two.

She bit her lip as he handed it to her, trying not to let tears form in her eyes. She ran her thumb over the pieces.

"I'm sorry Astaria." He moved away from her, watching her expression.

"My brother gave it to me before he left." She said quietly. "I've never taken it off since he gave it to me."

A smirk appeared on Ulfric's mouth. "You wore that into the Thalmor Embassy?"

"Of course." She sighs, suddenly very weary, her body exhausted.

He takes it off her carefully. "You need to rest."

She lets him take it but is unwilling to move to lie down. "Can I have some water?"

He pours her a mug from the pitcher on her right side and hands it to her, he has to help her drink again, her hand shaking. She finishes and he puts it down as she slowly lies down as carefully as she can.

"Ulfric?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you put it on that side for me? I can't move my right arm so..."

He smiles and moves the pitcher and mug to the other side of the bed.

"Thank you." She mumbled softly.

"You're welcome Dragonborn." He pauses. "Sleep well."

He leaves, closing the door quietly. Astaria pulls the blanket up tightly around her, her last thought before drifting back into sleep, was wondering why he had come to her aid.

The next few days were not fun for Astaria, the healers arrived and went to work on her. That was when she learnt how extensive her injuries were.

Her right arm was broken in two places, partly set by Wuunferth, and several ribs. They set these first, and Astaria spent a long time cursing them, only calming down after a stern word from Ulfric.

They started on the lacerations next, starting with the one on her neck. It took a long time to convince her to let them remove the bandage so they could see if it was clean and not festering, she was convinced that that was where most of the pain was coming from and didn't want anyone touching it until it had settled more.

Eventually, they convinced her otherwise.

The wound in her neck ran from just below her jaw so her collarbone, luckily, it was not as deep as what they first feared and had the wound healed quickly, it would be up to her to deal with the muscular pain.

Her chest and back were next, mostly punctures from where the teeth had sunk in, but there were a couple of smaller lacerations that had to be dealt with, one along her shoulder blade and one down her stomach, ending at the belly button.

All that left was her right arm. They were all worried as she was still unable to move it and they hoped that nothing had been too permanently damaged. What gave them hope was that she could flex her hand.

For Astaria, her arm was the least of her worries. She wasn't sleeping, nightmares plagued her almost every night, usually in the fog and being met by those red eyes. It hadn't taken her long to work out that those were Alduin's eyes. She knew that she was scared to fight him, but she wasn't convinced that the dreams had anything to do with that.

They'd allowed her a day's rest before staring on her arm, they could tell that it was all taking a toll on her body, her eyes showing her exhaustion. The healing process had not been painless, both Ulfric and Galmar telling her such each time they came to see how she was doing.

Night fell quickly and as the early morning crept up, Astaria found herself once again sitting bolt upright in bed, sweat dripping off her.

That dream had been worse. They each altered slightly in some way, this one, Alduin hadn't been alone, he'd been helped by other dragons, dragons which she was sure were the ones she had taken down, and they had taunted and teased, one swinging its tail into her arm, sending her crashing to the ground as Alduin charged, which had woken her up.

Astaria was steadying her breathing, her body in a numb pain, and it wasn't until she had calmed herself down, that the pain in her arm became very real.

She looks at it and sees blood blossoming from within the bandages, she curses loudly and holds it, but the blood was running quick. Jumping out of bed, she moved to the table, grabbing a health potion and downing it, hoping that alone would stop the bleeding, she grimaces as it starts to run down her arm.

There was a soft knock on her door.

Astaria didn't really want anyone to come in, but right now, she needed the help.

"Come in."

Ulfric entered, frowning as she groans, still clutching her arm. He takes one looks at the amount of blood and hurries over.

"What did you do?" He asked, tugging her hand away from her arm.

"Nothing, I woke up from a nightmare and it was like that." She grits her teeth together as he starts to unwrap the bandage.

He continues frowning but focuses on his task, the deep gash in her arm had indeed reopened, but it appeared that the health potion had worked to stop the torrent of blood. He grabbed some rags and clean water, pouring another health potion into it and, as gently as he can, starts to clean the blood away.

Astaria rests her elbow on the table and her head on her hand, getting her fingers into a tight grip in her hair as she jams her eyes shut from the pain.

"I'm glad that they're working on this tomorrow." Ulfric growls. "They should've done it first, it was the deepest cut."

"They were worried about the neck." She bites her lip, the wound burning as he cleaned it.

"I told them what wounds were worst." He said it angrily but he wasn't entirely sure who it was directed at.

Astaria says nothing, her face contorted with trying to control the pain. The bleeding stops and he starts to wrap it tightly in a clean bandage, she relaxes as he does, the pain easing.

"You alright?" He asks as he finishes, tying the bandage off.

"Yeah…" Her voice sounded far away and he gave her a worried glance, but saw that she was just thinking.

"Astaria, if you need to talk…"

"How did you know I was awake?"

The question caught him off guard and he moved away, cleaning his hands and throwing away the rags. The fire had burnt low, so he turned his attention to that.

"Don't ignore me Ulfric. You know what I'm talking about."

"I was awake and heard you curse."

"And the other night?"

"I…the same thing happened." He turns to find her watching him, disbelief hiding any remaining pain she was in. "I was checking up on you that night, alright? Making sure that you were asleep-" Her expression didn't change. "Like you are one to demand answers." He growled.

She sighs and turns away. "You're right. I'm sorry. Thank you for patching me back up again, I couldn't have done it by myself."

Ulfric watched her, he could see the tiredness in her face and he didn't blame her. He knew that she had been suffering nightmares every night, knew that they kept her awake for hours afterwards. He knew because he hadn't been able to sleep either, too worried about her, so much so that he guarded outside her door at night instead of regular guards, not that she knew this.

He sighs and sits back at the table with her. "I owe you an apology."

Astaria looks at him surprised. "For what?"

"The other night, before all this." When she still looks at him blankly, he almost laughs. "The kiss Astaria."

She blushes heavily and looks away. "Oh."

"I realised not long after that what I had done, was not far off what Ralof had done. I kissed you without permission, and for that, I am sorry."

She clears her throat after a moment. "There's nothing to worry about."

He raises an eyebrow to this. "Ralof still has a black eye and you are telling me that it's nothing to worry about?"

"It was…different." She stirred uncomfortably in her seat and stood, walking close to the fire as if the chill had got to her.

Ulfric wasn't fooled. "Astaria, do you have any idea how angry I was when I found out you had left?"

"I had to." She said quietly. "I was such a mess at that stage that I didn't think it wise-"

He turns her to face him, but she doesn't meet his eye.

"I don't know what you want from me Ulfric, I have no answer for you." She was still blushing and felt ridiculous. "I..."

He tipped her chin up to him and she saw he was frowning. "You think that you are the only one trying to work this out? It's...I'm not even sure what it is. What I do know, is that when that dragon bit you, everything stopped."

Astaria didn't know what to do, her heart was racing and the earnest way he said his words had made her hold her breath, but she had no answer for him.

Ulfric's gaze went to the fresh scar along her throat, his thumb running along it.

"I think we both need time to work this out." He said gently. "But no running from it when we need to talk, agreed?"

Astaria's blush returns and she nods. "Agreed."

There was a quiet moment between them, then, he does something she doesn't expect, pulling her into a tight hug. She goes to pull away, but realises she needs it, and he needs it, so she returns it with her good arm, locking it around his neck as she buries her face into his chest instinctively.

It was a while before either realised neither was willing to move, their heart beats steady as the fire started to go down again.

Ulfric's hand went to her hair, running his fingers through the dark mass, having not been tied for several days, knots had filled it, but he gently tugged his fingers through them. He was almost fascinated by her hair, the darkness of it being so unusual in Nords, and yet, even after all she had been through, was still soft as silk.

A soft murmur got his attention and he looked to find her eyes had closed and she was leaning heavily on him. With small smile, he carefully lifts her up.

She stirs but doesn't open her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Putting you back in bed."

She nuzzles deeper into his chest and, despite himself, he blushed.

"But I'm comfortable..." Her voice was no more than a mumble, so he was pretty sure that she was mostly asleep already and wasn't entirely aware of what she was saying.

"You can't sleep standing up Astaria." He puts her down and she reluctantly lets go of him, quickly getting into a comfortable position in bed. He was about to continue when there was a soft snore and he realised she was already asleep.

Sighing, he pulls the blanket up around her and brushes the hair out of her face. He watches her for a moment and realised that he was already very attached to the little Dragonborn, something that concerned him as he knew neither of their paths were going to be easy. He looked at the scar on her throat and with unsettling worry, he knew that there could be many more. Silently, he left the room, knowing, at least, that she was now willing to talk when they had the chance.

Astaria stirred from sleep, opening her eyes to the morning sun. Blinking, she thought that it had been the most peaceful few hours' sleep she had gotten in the last week.

Sitting up, she groans, stretching out her muscles, which were still very sore. She knew, even if they fixed her arm today, it would be while before she was fully capable of defending herself again.

Work on her arm began after breakfast and Astaria quickly found herself cursing the healers again. Her arm was in a bad way, the cut went from her shoulder to her elbow and it was deep, one of the healers saying it had reached the bone.

She was lucky to have her arm at all.

After several hours of healing, Astaria was trembling in pain. They'd been taking it slow, trying to return movement to her at the same time, and she just couldn't take it anymore.

With much shouting and yelling, they were forced to retreat from her room. Galmar and Ulfric found them grumbling to each other in the corridor, having come to see what the noise was.

"What are you doing?" Galmar growled. "Why aren't you-

"She refused any further treatment." The head healer snapped. "I've never come across someone so stubborn and rude-"

"Why is she refusing treatment?" Ulfric asked.

"She complained about being in too much pain to continue, honestly Jarl Ulfric, she might as well-"

But Ulfric was ignoring them, walking up to Astaria's door, knocking.

"I already told you to-"

"Can I talk to you Dragonborn?"

He took silence as his answer, entering her room, Galmar following.

Astaria was tying a bandage around the lower half of her upper arm, using her teeth to pull it tight. It was bleeding again.

"Astaria, what are you doing?" Ulfric asked, both furious and stunned.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She asked angrily. "I told them countless times that I was in pain but they refused to listen. The only way I could get them to stop was to threaten them that I would shout then out."

She was struggling to tie it and he walked over, taking it out of her hand.

"Here." He goes to tie it until he sees the mess she's made of wrapping her arm. "Have you ever bandaged a wound before?"

Astaria blushed heavily. "Not...no..."

Galmar chuckles. "Didn't think you'd need to?"

"It's not exactly easy to do on-"

"Hold still." Ulfric growls, having unwrapped her arm and was now trying to rewrap it.

Astaria scowled, looking away. Her arm had been partly healed, a scar already part way down her arm.

"You couldn't have least let them finish healing it over?" Galmar asked. He'd been a lot nicer to her since the dragon attack.

"They told me to tell them if I wanted a break and when I did, they didn't listen." Her voice was still angry, but she was keeping purposefully still. "You are quite welcome to get your arm sliced open to see what the healing process is like Galmar." Galmar was friendlier, but it didn't mean they still irritated each other.

"I hardly think threatening to shout at them was necessary." Ulfric said, cutting Galmar off, trying to keep the mood calm.

"I should've just shouted, would've got them out of the room quicker."

Ulfric sighs, tying the bandage off and stepping away. "You are meant to be controlling it."

"I am." She said, rubbing her shoulder, she could move it slightly, but not much. "I didn't actually do anything, did I?" She looks at him. "Look, I'll let them back in when the pain has settled and I can actually stand it again, all they had to do was stop for a few minutes to give me a breather, but no, it's all 'we've never seen an injury like this before, let's see what we can learn.' I don't like being poked and prodded, I just want them to heal my arm so I can start getting it to move again, it's infuriating not being able to move my dominate arm."

"Dragonborn, the injuries you sustained are going to take time, you can't just-"

"I don't have the luxury of just being able to sit idle, Jarl Ulfric." Astaria's expression was serious and determined, surprising both men. "The dragon problem is only going to get worse before it gets better and being the only one that stop it-"

"That does not mean you cannot afford to let your body heal." Ulfric said darkly. "It has already been decided you will not be leaving Windhelm until it does and you can properly wield a sword."

She was taken back for a moment before her eyes narrowed. "And when exactly was this decided? I can't just take months off to recover, plus I can wield a sword fine-"

"Your skills with your sword almost got you killed. You will go nowhere until you are up to a standard I am comfortable with." Ulfric folded his arms as if to enhance his point. "I am dead serious about this Dragonborn, so argue all you want, my decision is final."

The tension in the room was heavy, even Galmar was looking between the two worriedly. Astaria held Ulfric's steady gaze, neither willing to back down, amber staring into blue-grey.

Astaria folds her arms, matching his stance. "Fine. On one condition."

Ulfric's eyebrows twitched as if to frown. "What?"

"I get to keep this room. If I'm going to be stuck here, then I want my own privacy."

He looked at the room, normally kept for higher ranking guests the Palace. It was no real loss as visits were far and few between these days.

"Agreed." He said calmly.

"Good, now I want you out so I can sleep for an hour." She doesn't even flinch, pointing to the door.

"Girl, you can't seriously expect to order us-" She cut Galmar off with a glare.

"Out."

Ulfric grabs Galmar around the arm and leads him out, hiding a smile. This was going to be interesting.